Research
Research
Sound perception in every day life
We are constantly surrounded by sounds. Some of these sounds are important to us, others not. Some sounds are pleasant (like music, the voice of a loved one), others can drive us crazy (like the neighbor's lawn mower or a dripping tap). On the other hand, we do not hear every sound that is there, we ignore many of them. How much of the surrounding sounds we perceive varies from person to person. While the one person feels disturbed even by the slightest noise in the concentration, other people do not seem to notice the noise around them at all.
We want to understand how many of the sounds that surround us are actually perceived and how people differ in their perception.
To investigate this we use brainwave measurements (EEG). This allows us to examine perception processes without overtly asking the person and thereby changing their attention (as soon as I will ask you whether you notice the jackhammer in front of the house you will notice it).
Ear-EEG to measure brain activity
Our goal is to measure brain activity in everyday life. We use special electrodes developed by us, which are attached around the ear. With these electrodes we can inconspicuously measure EEG over long periods of time. Unfortunately, we can not measure the activity of the entire brain with these electrodes, but only a part of it. In our research, we would like to better understand which brain processes we can measure with these electrodes and which remain hidden from us. Arnd Meiser is working on this question.
Auditory work strain in the operating room
Surgery is a medical discipline that is characterized by the performance of complex motor tasks under time pressure and where mistakes can have serious consequences for patients. In addition, surgical staff are exposed to a stressful soundscape in the operating room (OR). The soundscape in the OR is characterized by a multitude of overlapping sounds, such as the continuous humming of ventilators, monitor beeps, alarms and conversations. We use electroencephalography (EEG) to record the response to the various aspects of the soundscape. In our studies, we have linked the neuronal activity measured during simulated surgical tasks to performance and self-reports. This brings us closer to the question of which sounds are perceived as disturbing and how they are processed.
Hardware Development - Beyond the lab EEG
Electroencephalography (EEG) enables the measurement of brain activity using electrodes placed on the scalp. In laboratory settings, specialized electrode caps ensure high signal quality. However, these caps are not well suited for EEG recordings in everyday life, where comfort, mobility, and ease of use are critical.
To address this challenge, we develop the necessary hardware for studying auditory perception in real-world environments. This led to the development of nEEGlace, a neck-based EEG system that uses ear-electrodes. Our first prototype integrated a mobile EEG amplifier into a neck loudspeaker, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach. This work was published in the Open Hardware Journal, and we successfully recorded EEG in everyday life.
We are continuously improving this concept and are now developing a new nEEGlace system from scratch. This next-generation version is designed to simultaneously record both EEG and audio data, allowing us to investigate how the brain processes complex auditory environments.